1. Field
Example embodiments relate to micro-heaters, micro-heater arrays, methods for manufacturing the same and electronic devices using the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A micro-heater locally warms the surface of a substrate to a high temperature as power is supplied, and may be applied to a broad range of electronic devices, for example, carbon nano tube transistors, low-temperature polycrystalline silicon or thin film transistors, field emission sources of a backlight unit, etc., which require high-temperature fabrication processes or high-temperature operations.
To use a micro-heater for electronic devices, a micro-heater needs to exhibit a uniformly heated state overall as well as be capable of adjusting temperature locally. Moreover, by reducing the loss of heat from a micro-heater, the power being applied to a micro-heater may be utilized more efficiently for heating a micro-heater to high temperatures.
In general, a micro-heater includes heating elements that are arranged at a distance from a substrate, and a plurality of support structures provided underneath the heating elements to support portions of the heating elements. In this type of micro-heater, heating elements may come into direct contact with the support structure, resulting in the heat generated by the heating elements transferring to and being lost in the support structure. In addition, if the support structures have various sizes or shapes, contact areas between the heating elements and the support structures may be different from each other in terms of size or shape, resulting in non-uniform temperature distribution. Under such a non-uniform temperature distribution, some of the heating elements may disconnect causing a malfunction of the micro-heater to malfunction. Also, as a great deal of the heat generated from the heating elements is lost, a micro-heater's driving power may be wasted.